NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, July 12, 2019

By Tawanda Karombo

Bitcoin is back on the radar in Zimbabwe as the country’s economy continues to struggle.

The cryptocurrency is trading briskly here after president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government banned the use of foreign currencies for settlement of local transactions.

It comes as Zimbabwe re-introduced the Zimbabwe dollar unit it abandoned in 2009 and banned settlement of local transactions using the United States dollar, British pound, South African rand and other foreign currencies. The government has been trying to  curb re-dollarization of the economy and apparently to tame growing pressure from workers’ unions demanding salary payments in foreign currency.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay.